LONGING FOR HEAVEN

Recorded in the dead of winter at a borrowed cabin in the Carolina mountains, Longing for Heaven has that Jeni & Billy sound through and through — sparse, emotional, and sincere Appalachian Folk. Like the small cabin where they recorded it, the record has an intimate feel, and their songs ask intimate questions about that most intimate of places — home. Home on Earth and home in Heaven.

Shad Cobb guests on fiddle while the duo handle the other instruments including guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, and acoustic bass guitar. Like their Jewell Ridge Coal, Longing for Heaven features live vocals and instruments recorded in complete takes with minimal overdubs to capture that “sitting in the living room at home” feel. Nicole Levitz (Feminist Review) writes, “They sound so natural together, it feels calming and clear. It’s as if you were there sitting on a back porch in old-timey South and they were right there with you and just stumbled upon some instruments.”

This ten-track CD includes four traditional songs: one from the Sacred Harp tradition and the others learned at fiddler’s conventions and from Dr. Ralph Stanley and Dry Branch Fire Squad records. The traditional song “Fond Affection” is recreated with additional lyrics and a new melody with a sad and delicate banjo lead. The other five songs are originals.

Southern writer Lee Smith, says she needs a mountain to rest her eyes against. An homage to Smith’s novels, “The Ballad of Sally Kincaid” asks the age-old question of whether you can go home again and what a woman will bear to be near “the mountain she loved best.”

“Father Will You Meet Me in Heaven” tells the true life story of Jack Cash, Johnny’s brother, who brought his father to Jesus while he lay dying of a saw-blade wound.

Written in the style of the old Carter Family songs, “While I Stay at Home and Weep” takes the age-old story of a woman waiting for her ramblin’ lover and stands it on its head.

In “If I Ever Get Ten Dollars” the railroad hobo lays out all his plans to “quit this railway car” and settle down — if he can just find the dough to buy a suit, a ring, and some land.

Jeni & Billy met UMWA President, Cecil Roberts, at the unveiling of a miner’s memorial in Cumberland, KY, after which he invited them to play at his 2010 inauguration. Struck by Roberts’ fiery speeches and his devotion to Martin Luther King, Jr and Jesus, Jeni & Billy wrote “Cecil Roberts’ Hand” in his honor.